What are all pensioners getting another £300 this winter??

[F0RBIDDENFRUIT]

They are amongst the richest people in the country, yes there are poor pensioners but a lot of them are way richer than anyone else.

£300 more for energy, none of the old people I know need this, they all have more money than their children.

Just because they vote, that is the only reason they can be doing this.

I think the overall topic has been diluted, and whilst one poster has been banging a drum with the 'line must go up' she is a consistent neo-lib amongst those that are arguing against her that agree the 'gdp line must go up' but not agreeing with her tone.

Some are trying to bring partisan angles into this whilst not understanding the argument she is making and trying to call out nuanced speech.

The same argument could be had as to why mortgage holders should be given support instead of renters and should it be means tested and not directed through to landlords, one out and out neo-lib makes a reasoned argument for, whilst the others who don't want their house price reduced pick apart arguments based on feel good factors

It can be very difficult to decline which is why many pass on to others. It was the same during COVID - the support from the local council was a befriending phone service or a weekly food parcel (free to the appropriate household). My mum could afford to and wanted to pay for any support received, but that wasn't an option. Luckily we didn't need to use the council services. But I had hoped to be able to put in place a back up service for an elderly widow, if I caught COVID etc and couldnt continue to support my own family. I learned from that - that often it is a sledgehammer to crack a nut! So one approach for all.

Again - it’s the 5th wealthiest nation in the world. The reason you are not noticing that is indeed due to spending we can’t afford, but that is due to money grabby Government millionaires siphoning it off to their mates in exchange for future favours in return. Plus fucking ridiculous dog whistle politics schemes like the £140m to Rwanda where no migrant to the UK has ever been sent and the staggering £1.6 billion for migrant barges that no one is on because they are a risk to health. Your angst/anger is misplaced, but then pensioners are an easy target aren’t they?

An intersting pop at pensioners, maybe other benefits should be 'means tested', eg better off families should get no Maternity pay or whatever it's called these days. Someone who works in finance once told me that means testing is so expensive that it's cheaper to give universal benefits!

Pensioners all had 50 years of working life to sort out their finances. They shouldn't need propping up with payments like this, they've had plenty of time to save money.

I'd rather the young were helped, who have it harder than anyone else.

You do realise that a state pension is an integral part of sorting out retirement finances? That’s why WASPI women were fucked when their state pension date was pushed back with virtually no warning in 2011. Perhaps you’ve also failed to notice that some people spent - and still spend - 50 years on low incomes often in jobs with no pension scheme? You can’t save money you didn’t earn.

Yes, absolutely.

@PineappleYikes Yikes at your utter woe is me petulance. A lot of pensioners spent their working life just 'getting by' (ring a bell?) rather than 'getting rich'.

By the same logic ‘young people’ have 50 years ahead of them to save and sort out their finances so they should earn more now to save for their future 🤷‍♀️. Makes as much sense as your argument.

Why does everyone assume that the boomer generation have all retired at 60. My retirement age has been adjusted to 66, my year of birth classes me as a boomer. I have received exactly 5 payments of my pension and it seems like you lot fucking begrudge me every penny of it.

I am so sick of this ageism and sick of these generational tags. I shan't be here to see it but it would be interesting to be on here in 20 years time and see how much you lot like being begrudged even breathing

My DM lived on £8k which comprised of £4k state pension and £4k private (not work) pension that DD had paid into and went to DM when he died.

i’m 50 and I would say most of the people I know aged 45-50 are better off than their parents. My DCs are teenagers now and I think maybe the “mainstay” of MN are 10-15 years younger than me and their parents are 10-15 years older so maybe I’m not sitting at the same point as the majority on here in the generational divide.

Well said!

@Harrythehappypig Same age, I'm definitely better off than my parents were and suspect our kids will be better off than us at this age. My own family and those of many of my friends were affected by heavy industry decline/job losses in 80s/early 90s, which they never really recovered from. Which is why they're not wealthy now as pensioners and weren't able to save, which seems to be lost by some on here.

Mate.🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

@Roosmarjin Everyone on benefits gets it. And free prescriptions.

I think you'll find, as per @LindyLou2020's posts, that people on certain benefits (not all of them) are eligible for the winter fuel allowance.

Free prescriptions in England are available to everyone over the age of 60, whether or not they are on benefits. I think that in Wales and Scotland (don't know about NI) they are free to everyone - whatever their age, and regardless of whether they're on benefits - but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

I think people are getting muddled up. The Winter Fuel Payment is only paid to pensioners.

You have to have been born before 25 September 1957 to get the payment this year. I think some people are mixing it up with the Cost of Living payments.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment

I think I’m guilty of that. How embarrassing. 🙈

Not embarrassing at all. The benefits system is often confusing!

Data the ONS collected between 2016 and 2018 shows that one in five households (22%) in Great Britain, where the main householder (the person responsible for household finances) is over 65, have a household wealth of over a million pounds.14 Jul 2021

It'll likely end just as many of us on here to to the age where realise we need it to heat our homes for winter as our pensions are too low against cost of living.

How many of these pensioner millionaires just happen to live in very ordinary houses in expensive areas?

yabu
many pensioners need it
they need the heating on more than younger people

Can you provide the link? As pp says, living in a fairly bog standard terrace in London can make you a millionaire.